Monday, May 12, 2008

There are individual attempts to rewrite history of Kyrgyzstan, but these attempts are mostly unsuccessful mainly because of Russia's growing influence and revival of its might (both Tsarist and Soviet), while the Kyrgyz government is afraid to contradict the Big Brother (also in Orwellian meaning). The recent debate on marking of the 1916 revolt was muted, largely because of Russia's opposition to it.

Now, how do you rewrite the Basmachi revolts of early 20th century? Russian (Soviet) history clearly depicts them bandits (terrorists, kidnappers, killers) and opponents of the Communist dream. Meanwhile, the Kyrgyz are re-questioning this and re-thinking the history again as the grandsons of Janybek Kazy (Jani Begh in Pakistan) are returning to Kyrgyzstan with investment.

Janybek Kazy (circa. 1861-1933), originally from Özgön (Uzgen), was a nobleman who revolted against the Soviet collectivization and raskulachivanie policies in 1928. Under Russian punishment he fled first to China, then settled in Gilgit, Pakistan after the Soviet sent an army to arrest him. Some of his children in 1950's then migrated to Turkey. Currently, he as grandchildren living in Pakistan, Germany, Turkey, and Japan.

He and his followers were called basmachi for 70 years and the Soviet government told us they wanted to create an Islamic caliphate or a Pan-Turkist state (the current Russian government has pretty much follows the Soviet interpretation of history). With so little information from the archives of NKVD and KGB, the Kyrgyz are trying to re-write their own history. And once again, these attempts might fail due to the fear that Russian government might decide to deport all the Kyrgyz migrant workers (some 300,000 - 500,000people), most of them are illegally working there.